All the Others

 

Photography by Josephine

Small being,
you look up at me
with such trust
it hurts my heart.

My years
have shown me
too many beings like you
suffering
at human hands.

But while I live
I will keep you

- one tender heartbeat -
safe and warm.
Sadly,
I can only pray
for all the others.

A small thought for Carrie at The Sunday Muse

Like a Mother

 

Loving the world means loving the wobbles

along with the wonders:

the bad news trickled throughout the day,

the fog lifting off to reveal blue sky and warm sun,

the boat that ran aground yesterday in the harbour,

six people rescued, four in hospital,

and the green shoots poking up through the ground

with the promise of spring.

Loving the world means growing hearts big enough

to bear witness, encompass and advocate for change
(so much that needs fixing):
the heartbreak of cruelty to animals:

the man who killed his neighbour's beloved dog

for entering his yard; the terrible pain of factory farms;

the accelerating climate crisis, with so many humans

and animals suffering; refugees in tents in wintertime,

hungry children without beds, without books.

It's hard to find the words, sometimes.

Let me love the world like a mother,

accepting the bad with the good,

always hoping for better, trusting the good

will outweigh the bad, even when 

it feels like the opposite is true.

Let me love the world like a mother,

for all of its wonders, even though

there are so many days
when it's

breaking my heart.

Inspired by "Rain, on New Year's Eve" by Maggie Smith. The italicized words are hers.

shared with earthweal's open link.

BLACKBIRD II

 

Photograph by Jill Battaglia

The fragrance of lilacs takes me back

to your gloomy house, your gloomy heart,

where, together, we fashioned a chimera:

you, the fire-breathing dragon,

me, the she-goat, blindly loving

one who had no wish to be loved.

Your blackbird heart has haunted me,

down all the years. The blackbird song
we sang 

brings me to tears.

Your mask of suffering

bade me to move on.

You called my name, then,

but too late.
Already,
I was gone.

for Shay's word list. I used fragrance, lilacs, chimera, gloomy, haunted, song, suffer(ing) and mask.

Pink Plastic Unicorns on the Beach

 

Pink unicorns from crashed containers

Global News photo

"To understand a swan,
you have to learn how to cry,"
my son, the mystic, says,
his soul attuned to higher frequencies
than the rest of us can hear.

Meanwhile pink plastic unicorns
are washing up along the coast,
containers fallen off a ship
in autumn storms,
spilling forth their contents
faster than humans can
clear the debris away.

No word, yet,
from the shipping company
as to who, in the end, will pay.

These times are teaching me
more than I ever wanted to know
about learning how to cry.
Each day one more disaster
on my tv screen.
What will happen to
we earthlings
remains to be seen.

"Embrace change
and swim with the swan,"
the poet said, so I will try,
as one by one
these troublesome days
go by.

Perhaps I'll soon converse with swans,
look in their opaque eyes,
and finally understand
what this shifting ground
on which I stand
is trying so hard
to make me realize.

One of 109 containers
washing up along the West Coast
Global News photo

In October 2021, the MV Zim Kingston, (from Malta), floundering in winter storm, became disabled off the West Coast of B.C. One of the containers caught fire, and had to be put out in the middle of rescuing the crew, in violent storm conditions. 109 containers fell off the barge. Only four have washed up on beaches. The rest are out there somewhere and the contents will eventually hit shore.

50 tonnes of debris have so far been cleaned off the beaches manually, and picked up by helicopter. It is a daunting task and Surfrider Pacific Rim, the cleaners, say that more offal is washing ashore on beaches already cleaned. The area impacted stretches along the entire coastline of Vancouver Island, from Haida Gwaii to Victoria. Surfrider worker Alys Hoyland said, "We want the federal government to hold large companies accountable for cleanup." (Wouldnt that be great? If only.) So far not a word has been heard from the shipping company.

Being fully engaged in the Now has many hard moments. But it is better to know, and try to help, than live in denial while the waters creep up higher and higher along our shores.

for earthweal where we are contemplating immersion in the Now, and Swans.

Being Peace

 

One step. Two steps.

Walking on the earth,

I smile.

Heel and then toe,

slowly, mindfully.

This moment,

wonderful moment.

Being peace is what he taught.

In his honour,
we try to remember

to walk gently on the earth,

mindful of
this present moment.

for Thay, who has left us as gently as a leaf in the wind.

Gratitude

Photograph by Anita Sedberry
at Harold Ross Fine Art Photography.

This morning
the fog is rising from the sea,

lifting off cedar and salal
like a misty curtain
on an old painted window,
to reveal
the landscape of my dreams.

In my heart,
a flickering in response:
a candle,
lit in gratitude,
ever burning,
now that 

the time of supplication
has passed.

for The Sunday Muse

ABOUT LOVE

 

My granddog, Bosley, who will soon
have a puppy sister to play with.
A two-puppy household sounds like heaven!

I will not tell you everything will be okay.
We all know better than that by now:
the icecaps are still melting;
starving bears are swimming miles,
exhausted, in search of food;
underwater volcanoes can explode
with a force greater than a nuclear bomb.
(Think about that.)

There are too many worries to name,
and nearby the last of the Old Ones
are falling to chainsaws, bleeding sap
on the scraped earth. 

I don't know what to tell you, except:
it stays light a bit longer each evening,
and, some days, the grey skies draw back
and our old beautiful blue sky
is still there. We gaze at it, rapturously.

I can only say that life is a gift
that we all long to keep,
no matter what is happening.

Love is all around. So love because:
we are all here, breathing; because
the green shoots are popping up already
and we are not far from spring; love
because puppies are being born,
and baby everythings, even as
old peoples' eyes are closing peacefully
for the last time, on to their next adventure.

I can only say again that life is a gift
that we all long to keep,
that the beauty of forest and shore,
sea and sky, all the changing colours
of the earth, takes my breath away,
expands my heart with gratitude,
that, even, and always, alone,
a heart that hears the ocean's song
is never lonely.

Inspired by"New Year's Day" by Caitlin Myer. The italicized lines are hers.

Shared with earthweal's open link.